Nepali journalist flees kidnapping

Journalist Shiva Oli returned to his village in Doti
district, in western Nepal,
on July 28, 2009, after hiding for three days following harassment for his
work, according to the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) and other news
sources.

Six men visited Oli at his house at around 11:30 p.m. on
July 25 about a news report he had written on financial irregularities of a
drinking water project, Suraj Bhattarai at FNJ told CPJ by e-mail. The report
was first published in the weekly newspaper Doteli
Awaj on July 17, and then carried by other newspapers in the region, said
Bhattarai.

At least one of the men was armed with a long knife and forced
the journalist to leave with them, but he was able to escape and go into hiding,
Oli told local FNJ representative Dil Bahadur Chatyal.

The journalist's wife, Laxmi Oli, reported him missing the
next day. Police arrested three men she identified as part of the group,
including the chairman of the project's construction committee, Shovan Oli, and
two other men, Yogendra Deuba and Mahendra Malla, according to the FNJ. Shovan
Oli is not related to the journalist.

Oli contacted his wife and police on the evening of July 26
and returned home two days later, he said. No charges were pressed against the
three men, who admitted to threatening the journalist but said that they had guaranteed
his safe return, the FNJ said.